DEAR DR. DONOHUE: The only time my wife has seen a doctor or been in a hospital was to have our kids. She takes no medicines and doesn’t have a doctor. She’s 71 years old. In the past six months she has not been able to do what she used to do. She says her […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Ice cream is my passion. But I think my days of eating it are gone. I had a big bowl three weeks ago, and that night and the next day I was in agony. I had bad cramps and diarrhea. The following day everything returned to normal. I thought I might have […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am eight months pregnant and am having pain in the fingers of my right hand. Also, I think my grip is weaker than it was. My OB doctor says it’s nothing and will go away after I deliver. He’s not in favor of me taking any medicines that aren’t absolutely necessary. […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I lost my body mass index chart. My druggist told me to use the Internet to get another. One problem: I’m a senior citizen with no computer. Will you be so kind as to send me a chart with the body mass index? — J.L. ANSWER: I don’t have body mass index […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I wrote to you previously about my wife’s death from an aortic dissection. She was in the hospital for a urinary tract infection and was being examined by a resident doctor so she could be released within 12 hours. All of a sudden, she cried out because of a sharp pain in […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My grandson is 15 years old, weighs 110 pounds, is 4 feet 11 inches tall and does not exercise. His parents think he is too small for his age. They took him to an endocrinologist, who suggested he take Norditropin shots. These shots are not covered by insurance and cost $26,000 a […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am going buggy — literally. My 5-year-old kindergartener has head lice. I discovered them because he started scratching his head. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about this. I can’t imagine where he picked them up. Is the entire family destined to come down with them? I have […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I recently was diagnosed with coronary vasospasm. Bloodwork indicated that I had suffered a mild heart attack. Follow-up tests showed no coronary artery disease. Could you expand on the cause of this condition? Am I at risk of a more serious heart attack? — J.W. ANSWER: Coronary (heart artery) vasospasm is a […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Recently my niece was diagnosed with E. coli. I want to know more about that disease. How do you contract it? Is it contagious? How is it treated? Does it affect certain parts of the body? Is it painful? Can it be cured? Is it fatal? — M.W. ANSWER: E. coli isn’t […]

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I assist the baseball coach at our local high school. I graduated from college with a degree in physiology, and I have always been interested in applying physiology to sports performance. I am particularly interested in hand-eye coordination. I know it’s especially important in hitting a baseball. The coach is interested in […]